The development of electronic technology has led to development and distribution of various types of electronic products and supplies. In particular, various kinds of capturing devices such as TV, mobile phone, PC, notebook PC, and PDA are widely used in most homes.
In tandem with increased use of capturing devices, user needs for more diverse functions have improved. Accordingly, the efforts of individual manufacturers to meet user needs grow, producing products with new functions that were not present in the conventional products.
In particular, an electronic device such as a smart phone or tablet PC which have been developed in recent years may generate a 2D panoramic image using a plurality of continuously-captured a 2D images using a built-in camera. Moreover, recently developed electronic devices may generate a 3D panoramic image using a plurality of the 2D images in the continuous capturing. This way, as a method for generating a 3D panoramic image on the basis of the plurality of the 2D images, a following method has been applied.
First, there is a method for generating a 3D panoramic image using a 2D panoramic image and depth panoramic image (hereinafter, the first related art). Specifically, in the first related art, a 2D panoramic image is generated by using a plurality of the 2D images in the continuous capturing, and based on the plurality of the depth map respectively corresponding to a plurality of 2D images, a depth panoramic image is generated. Then, the first related art is to generate a 2D panoramic image to a 3D panoramic image based on the depth panoramic image generated from a plurality of depth maps.
However, when generating a 3D panoramic image through the first related art, there is a problem that a hidden area occurs in a background area. If hole filling is performed for the hidden area, the image defect in the 3D panoramic image will occur accordingly.
Secondly, there is a method of generating a 3D panoramic image by extracting a strip of a camera and generating two series of strips, and mosaicking or stitching them (hereinafter, the second related art).
However, in order to generate a stable strip from a 2D image through the second related art, there is a problem that a separate rotary device should be used. That is, in order to create a stable strip from a 2D image, a capturing direction of a 2D image or a moving direction should be in a vertical direction. However, the capturing direction and the moving direction of the capturing device are not regular and thus, defect or distortion occurs in the continuously-captured 2D image. Therefore, when generating a 3D panoramic image using the distorted 2D image, there would be problems of stair-shaped image defect on the generated 3D image, structural distortion, and drift phenomenon where an area of panoramic image generation is reduced.